Visited the pain clinic last weekfor assessment,Recommended to have a steroid epidural injection to treat the beast(sciatica)!Also understand it can be used for back pain.Have some pharmacy knowledge of this (from job)& Drgave me a leaflet& told me to google it.I would be really interested &grateful for personal experiences of ppl on here if there are any.

From own knowledge &Dr Google this procedure rarely works&Dr said it doesnt alwayswork.Have agreed to have it end of July but can cancel-dont like the risksalthough rare.

I have had these injections years ago they did not help me at all...I have had disc prolapse and spinal fusion etc that has not helped either and I think is root cause of my fibro although can't prove it.

Have had spinal injections a few times, First time very stiff afterwards for a while and when finally settled was quite good for a while. second time which was about 18 months later - no benefit at all. Two years later i have now been waiting 6 months to have the procedure again. Im of mixed opinion if it is successful or not??? - am a little concerned about possible side effects or damage injecting into the facet joints of my spine but it did kind of help relieve hip pain a little. Good luck!

Hi I have had both facet joint injections and epidurals for spinal pain .

The facet joint injections weren't great but the epidurals were brilliant (last one August '12). If I didn't have the FM I probably could have reduced my med dose a lot more than I did. I was at the consultant recently for a review and he seemed pleased with the result . I was expecting another review in 6-9 month time to see if I needed another injection but in my area there seems to be a thing in the NHS that you are discharged after 2 injections and if you need more you have to start the merrygoround all over again!

Ah well just have to remember to ask whenever it starts hurting again!